Real are in the midst of a bitterly disappointing campaign that has left the Champions League as their only hope of winning a major trophy. And a squad overhaul is on the cards this summer, with Florentino Perez set to axe a number of high profile members of Zinedine Zidane’s playing staff. Real are thought to be in the hunt for a new centre-back to partner captain Sergio Ramos in the heart of their defence. And the latest reports from Spain indicate Real have the edge on Barcelona as both…

GETTY Danny Welbeck earned a cheap penalty in the first half against Milan As it was, Danny Welbeck only rescued the Gunners from the brink of disaster by falling over. Sadly, that is the modern way. The controversial penalty award in the 39th minute stopped Milan in their tracks no sooner had they got their tail up. Slowly they lost their way and a late goalkeeping catastrophe gifted Granit Xhaka the winning goal on the night. It meant a rather inglorious European night rather than a glorious one, but right…

Welbeck appeared tumble easily in the box during Arsenal’s 3-1 Europa League win over Milan on Thursday. The Gunners were in trouble at the time of the incident, having just conceded to a Hakan Calhanoglu wonder strike. Milan’s players were furious when minutes later Welbeck got up from Ricardo Rodriguez supposed contact to slot home the penalty. But Wenger claimed he had not seen a replay of the incident and missed it at the time. “When I watch the penalty, I will give you an honest answer,” Wenger said. “It…

The midfielder has also spoken out about Danny Welbeck’s controversial penalty incident. Arsenal beat AC Milan 3-1 (5-1 on aggregate) to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Because the Gunners are 12 points outside of the Champions League places in the Premier League table, their best hope of qualifying for the tournament next year is by winning the Europa League. And Wilshere was delighted that his side made it through to the last eight. “We needed it,” he told BT Sport. “We set the level last week in…

Wilshere celebrated his return to the England squad for friendlies with Holland and Italy with another composed performance and it seems a far cry from his struggles on the south coast in a loan move. Fans of the Three Lions will still remember with horror his last appearance for his country, against Iceland in the embarrassing Euro 2016 exit where he was clearly not fully fit and it showed. Feared he most certainly wasn’t among Europe’s elite – but now he is. Even AC Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso sang the…

Wilshere has received a lot of criticism over the past few months with a new deal at Arsenal yet to be settled. The midfielder has been improving though in recent weeks and been rewarded with a recall to England’s squad. The Three Lions face Italy and Netherlands in friendlies later this month and Southgate has handed Wilshere his first call-up since Euro 2016. He last played for his country when England were humiliated by Iceland, almost two years ago. And with Southgate looking to narrow his options down with a…

The Milan boss, a World Cup winner in 2006, spoke highly of the Arsenal midfielder ahead of the Europa League last-16, second leg clash at the Emirates Stadium. And as his side prepares to try to climb a mountain – following a 2-0 victory for the Gunners in Italy – inspired in part by Wilshere a week ago, he was full of praise for a player who is still unwilling to commit his long-term future to the club he has been associated with since the age of eight. Gattuso said: “He is…

Liverpool are in the quarter-finals of the competition having beaten Porto in the last-16. They will go into Friday’s draw for the next round full of confidence with the likes of Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino firing in the goals. Liverpool have found the net 106 times across all competitions this season, with that deadly trio contributing near to 70 of them. And Mane sees no reason why Jurgen Klopp’s Reds cannot go all the way to Kiev and lift the trophy for the sixth time. Mane said: “There are almost only…

The Gunners superstar became the fastest player in Premier League history to reach 50 assists during their 3-0 win against Watford. Ozil found Shkodran Mustafi’s head with his first-half free-kick as Arsenal found an early lead in their clash against the Hornets. It took Ozil just 141 games in the English top flight to reach half a century and to mark his impressive achievement, Arsenal released a funny training ground video to show just how good he is at assisting. The Gunners tweeted the video with the message: “Be it…

Usually his teams fillet you with skill and flair rather than batter you into submission – or at least they used to. But on Sunday at the Emirates Arsenal responded perfectly to Troy Deeney’s accusation that they lack those ‘cojones’. Deeney made the jibe when Watford beat a supine Gunners 2-1 at Vicarage Road in October and blamed the referee for their performance. Jack Wilshere tweeted this was “a chance to show we have some ‘cojones’ before the match, and Arsenal did exactly that in a performance if not exactly…